The Day Jane Left
by wonderingwanderer
Summary: Slight A/U in which Jane never made it to Trosmø. In fact, to the Avengers' surprise, Jane ended up in New York City. And then she disappeared again. It's up to Darcy and The Avengers to find her, AND find the missing Tesseract. But with Loki badly wounded and in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody, what could have happened? Rated T for language and the underrated pairing that is Bruce/Darcy.


**Author's Note: I don't own the Avengers. I think I'd lose them if I did.**

**I really do think the Bruce/Darcy dynamic gets overshadowed by TaserTricks, but I digress.**

* * *

The day Jane left had started out like an average day in New Mexico.

Well, as average as you could get with a makeshift top-secret base right smack dab in the middle of everything.

The sun was high in the sky and a warm, spicy breeze had sprung up from the south. The air smelled like the dirt and grass and the newly popped up flowers that made the picturesque desert landscape, to Darcy, somewhat tolerable.

Puente Antiguo was rebuilding, and had been pretty prosperous, ever since word got out that the famed alien hero Thor had made his landing there. Despite all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supposed greatness, it wasn't as though they could keep a whole town pacified, no matter how deep their pockets were of tax-payers' money.

The agents they had sent to help Jane in her epic quest to find her love at first sight did little to mask the covert affair. Darcy Lewis smiled to herself as she stepped into the morning sun, her chocolate hair still slightly curly from her shower, and her blue eyes shinning, accented even more by her blue Culver University tank top and beige shorts.

Things were finally starting to look up. She'd finally graduated with an M.A. in Political Science from Culver, thanks mostly in part to her credits from Jane (they actually had been worth it after all), and with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influences. Hey, knowing a super-alien-badass-hero had its perks!

She really should put her PoliSci major to use. Maybe find out if S.H.I.E.L.D. needed some peacemakers in the politics department? God knows they needed good publicity, if any.

But she had to admit that it wasn't such a bad life working with Jane again. Even though she could barely tell what Jane was talking about most of the time, she had what Jane called an "uncanny ability to point out the obvious." Which, for Jane, was great, since she was always so caught up in the small, minuscule details of some ancient equation. Darcy would grin, cock an eyebrow, slide off the table she'd been sitting on, and say something that Jane had completely missed.

Besides, the pay was great, thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intervention and financial support. Darcy had nearly cried when she found out they had paid her college loans, kissing the agent that had told her senseless.

As it turned out, S.H.I.E.L.D. was as eager as Jane to see Thor; for different reasons, of course. S.H.I.E.L.D. was hoping for a connection to be made to Asgard, and after that, an eventual treaty to be made between the Asgardians and humans. Well, Americans.

"Talk about manifest destiny," Darcy muttered under her breath as she neared their new base, a newly refurbished diner. She liked the colors, all chrome red and white, with metal booths and a makeshift computer lab where the counters would have been. Retro 1960s had obviously been the style in mind.

She could hear yelling from inside and sighed exasperatedly. Probably Jane yelling at some poor first time agent, "WHAT are you doing? That goes with the particle detector, not the recoil separator system!"

She chuckled, shaking her head to herself. Slamming open the door with a bang, she announced her arrival with eyes closed and arms wide out as if in an embrace, Darcy-style:

"Greetings, fair subjects! Your queen has arrived, no, you need not kiss my hand! In fact, you…Jane, what the hell are you doing?" She looked on in horror at her boss/friend/now seemingly mad-lady ripping apart the room before her, agents scurrying by like faceless ghosts, carrying boxes out the back door. Not that ghosts wore sunglasses. For a moment, Darcy really did wonder about that, but her attention was quickly brought back to reality when another box fell from Jane's grasp.

"Crap! Gotta…Get all my…What's that doing there…stuff…oh no!" Jane cried out as a box came crashing to the floor from a high shelf.

"I GOT IT!" Darcy yelled as she ran, slid, tripped, gasped, let out a sound like an "oomph!" and actually made it in time to catch another box, this one marked 'toxic' on the outside. "Ow…"

"Darcy, I really don't know what I would ever do without you," Jane smiled apologetically. "Thanks."

"Well, it's a damn good thing I'm not going anywhere! Seriously though, what the hell is going…Jane? What's wrong?" a look of concern was plastered over her pretty face at Jane's downcast expression.

"I'm leaving," she responded curtly, picking up the box, and moving it to a bin with others, "I'm sorry, it's just that S.H.I.E.L.D. called half an hour ago and said that they had more research for me to do in Trosmø. They have this huge observatory that's been out of commission for decades, but it has the best lenses I've ever heard of and with my equipment, we might just have a chance of finding Thor!" The pink in her cheeks grew even darker. "I mean, Asgard. Of course I meant Asgard."

"Like hell you meant Asgard!" Darcy smirked. "Janey, show me any woman alive who would stay away from an outer-space hunk that just happens to be _that_ much of a hunk. Shit, do you know how many Facebook likes my photo of him has? It went viral. _Viral_, Jane. Well, before S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to desecrate everything sacred and holy and obliterated everything online about him-"

"I get it," Jane interrupted, "Thanks."

"Not a problem. Oh God, you must have it bad if listening to me go on and on about how much of a stud muffin your beefy boyfriend was is annoying and…Annnnnd I'm just gonna shut up now." She took in a deep breath of stuffy air. "So Trosmø, where's that again?"

"Norway," Jane replied, looking down at her sheets of papers without missing a beat.

Norway?

Well that was different.

"Are we seriously going to Norway?!" she cried out excitedly, paused in mid-smile, then added, "I'm really not sure how I feel about that."

"Here's the, um, awkward part," Jane started, picking up another box and labeling it accordingly, "It's just, well, me."

A silence fell over the room.

"Oh," was all Darcy could say. It wasn't like she had expected Jane to let her tag along, but she had at least half-expected it. Her insides dropped. What did that mean for her job? Working for Jane and fetching endless coffee after coffee wasn't much of a job anyway, but it did mean that she could live anywhere in the area and have food, clothes, and lodging paid for by none other than the scariest secret organization that did a terrible job of hiding their logos.

Jane looked sheepish, and continued to label the box. "I'm so sorry, I never would have said yes if I knew you couldn't come, but everything happened so fast, and then they said that I might see Thor again, and –"

"I see how it is," said Darcy, and attempting a wry smile, fetched Jane another box. "Bros over hoes, misters over sisters."

"Darcy, you know it's not like that! It's…complicated and like I said, it happened so fast, one minute I was drinking coffee wondering about the stain on the floor and the next I-"

"Janey," Darcy interrupted, emphasizing the 'y' of Jane's pet name and placing a reassuring arm on her friend's shoulder, "It's all good! I mean… I guess I can stay here and file some more things, or transcribe whatsits-"

"You have NO idea how much of a relief that is!" Jane smiled, and continued to pack more equipment, "I'm sure S.H.I.E.L.D. will let you stay, besides, for all we know, I'll be gone for only a week. But are you sure you'll be ok by yourself? Erik won't be back from God-knows-where S.H.I.E.L.D. sent him a month ago for a while, and -"

"JANE," Darcy groaned and closed her eyes, frustrated, "you're doing it again. Don't make me take back my offer!"

"I'm so sorry, I mean-"

"Dude. Chill. Sit," Darcy forced her pretty brunette friend into a booth, and slid her coffee cup over to her. "You finish _this_," she pointed a stern finger to the mug, "And I'll finish _that_." She pointed a finger back to the boxes.

Jane started to speak, but Darcy shushed her.

"Listen! It's ok! You're on verge of seeing your seriously cut and rugged blond alien prince boyfriend! If anyone else were in your position, they'd be freaking out to the point of insanity, you're doing fine, really! Just… chillax! Get caffeinated! I'll do the rest," she ended her speech with a curt turn toward the computers and the rest of Jane's endless equipment and journals.

"Thanks," Jane said quietly from across the room, sipping from her mug. "I did mean it when I said I wouldn't have gone if I'd known-"

Darcy raised a hand and replied, "Say no more. I totally understand."

"You're a saint, you know that?"

"So they keep on telling me," Darcy replied haughtily, "But, personally, I don't see it."

The rest of the morning was spent just like that; Jane timidly sipping her coffee, and Darcy packing up boxes, occasionally yelling out obscene curses when the occasional electronic doo-hicky fell on her foot.

When Jane finally left and said her hurried goodbyes, Darcy was left with a stony silence that made her blood run cold. Not just cold…but freezing. It wasn't unusual, but she felt like someone had just passed by her grave. She sighed, cleaning up more of their base, and organized Jane's strewn papers that had little or no use. Someone, whoever they may be, probably _had_, considering all the crazy stuff she'd seen in the past year. It wasn't like she really cared anymore. At this point, nothing could really surprise her, or so she thought. And she did think. She always thought. She thought about her future, how it may or may not turn out to be a dead end, and about Jane, and Erik, and the day that Thor died and then became a 'god' again, or alien, or whatever. The day that Puente Antiguo was almost blown off the map. She'd lost a couple good, or at least, decent, friends that day. But they were still human, still people, who all because of an alien row had been wiped away from the surface of her planet. Alien brothers, no less. She smirked absentmindedly, thinking of her brothers and the pranks they used to play on her. They were sometimes harsh, and sometimes a bit too harsh, yes, but…they never were so mad at each other that they tried to kill! Now, that was totally some butternuttered family!

Working late into the night, she was just about to close up when suddenly, the door opened with an almighty crash.

"What the HELL?!" she jumped, spinning around with her Taser in hand, aimed at the intruder.

"I…Darcy…" The poor boy looked shell-shocked, she thought. He was a neighborhood mechanic, fresh out of high school. Tried to ask her out all the time, but backed off only recently when she told him for the hundredth time that she wasn't interested, and that if he kept on asking, she would do something terrible to a certain part of his anatomy.

"Yes, _Paul_?" she asked, agitated, still not lowering her Taser.

"You're going to want to look at this," he said, showing her what seemed to be video footage from his smartphone.

"If this is going to be that stupid singing show you told me about…"

"No!" he snapped, worry lining his young face. Intrigued, Darcy looked over at the video he was playing, and verbally gasped.

It was a view of The Big Apple, New York City, 'if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere' NYC.

And it was in ruins.

Iron Man? _The_ Iron Man? What the hell was Tony Stark, _the_ Tony Stark, the bazillionaire egotistical genius, doing out there blasting purple-y gold creatures? On one of the roofs, there was a man shooting out arrows faster than Darcy could count, and then…then the screen showed…wait, was that CAPTAIN AMERICA? No frickn' way, he died ages ago! She'd only seen the old vintage comic books he'd been in that were her grandfather's prized possessions, but it was most definitely he. To his right was some redheaded chick going all badass on what she could only describe to be yet another of the most disgusting creatures she'd ever seen.

"Woah! Aw, man, that was sweet! Dude, what movie is this? Now we're talking!"

"Um…Darcy…"

That was when she noticed the little four-letter word at the bottom corner of the screen.

LIVE.

"Holy shit. You mean…that's…" she could only stare on in shock at the scene before her. Well, the scene on the phone, that is. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT BEFORE?!" she yelled, eyes still glued to the screen.

"I – "

And that was when she almost fainted.

The screen had shifted positions, and was now pointed at two tall guys yelling at each other, one agile and quick, with slicked back raven hair, wearing black and green leather armor and holding a terrifyingly menacing stick, and the other was…

"THOR?!" Darcy nearly passed out and jumped out of her seat all at once. This was way too much. WAYYYY too much. "You're kidding me. Seriously. I. Am. Being. Prank'd," she gripped the front of Paul's shirt and pulled him towards her face, "Tell me I'm being prank'd, Paul!"

"You're not?" he started, but then Darcy pressed a finger to his lips.

"Oh. My. God. OH MY FREAKING…No. No. That can't be… I mean…"

"What?" asked Paul, glancing down at her odd gesture, secretly thanking the gods above that he never got a chance to go out with this nutter.

She pointed a finger at the screen and groaned before answering, "That's JANE!"

What happened next happened so fast, it was with incredulity and confusion that Darcy stared at the man with only one eye. So. This was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He didn't seem like much, but the look his one eye gave her was threatening enough.

Upon seeing her friend in the clutches of whom she now knew as Thor's younger brother, Loki, she'd darted from the room, leaving a very stunned Paul in her wake. She'd tried calling Jane's cell phone, but, as she expected, got no answer. Running out of their base and into the hot New Mexico sun, she decided that the only logical thing would be to call S.H.I.E.L.D., and otherwise sit tight, maybe join the other residents of Puente Antiguo in a small church she'd seen people spilling into, say prayers she could only hope would be answered.

But, that would be the logical thing to do.

So there she was, speeding on the deserted road in her cooper, her radio blaring whatever happened to come through. Once in a while, an emergency report would come over the radio, giving updates on the New York situation, but Darcy could only wonder if they were true. Knowing S.H.E.I.L.D, they wouldn't risk exposing the Avengers Initiative (which, she'd 'accidentally' come across while collecting research for Jane, to the annoyance of Philly.) Darcy smiled to herself, remembering Agent Coulson's expression of hopelessness whenever she'd do something surprisingly brilliant yet outwardly, and admittedly, stupid. Face-palm was an understatement.

It was nearly 10 hours before S.H.I.E.L.D. found her. The road was still empty, and the sun was just starting to come up over the grassy plains. When a near platoon of black SUVs all of a sudden came all around her, and she heard a helicopter coming closer…well, let's just say experience said all it had to.

Pulling over, she hopped out of the car, slammed the door, and bounded over to the nearest SUV. She furiously knocked on the window, and nearly jumped back in surprise when a familiar face poked out.

"You look like hell," he commented, smiling slightly. It was Johnny Godwin, the first S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that actually responded to her sarcasm and banter. He stepped out of the vehicle, and stretched his long legs. If Darcy hadn't been so caught up in working for Jane, she totally wouldn't mind going out with him. He hadn't asked, but he certainly wasn't shy around her. Her sleepy eyes took in his deep brown eyes, tanned face, and (abnormally so for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent) shaggy blond hair. If he weren't an agent, any sane women probably would've pegged him as a model.

"Feel like it too," she replied, pulling her fingers through her messy hair and wrapping her sweatshirt tighter around her. She desperately needed a shower, and 10 hours straight on the road meant that she was seriously considering doing a number one behind a stray tree by the highway. Of course, that would be impossible now, considering her current company was nearly all male agents. S.H.I.E.L.D. could seriously do with a little diversity.

The helicopter had landed, and, to Darcy's relief, a woman stepped out, thin and toned with bright blue eyes and brown hair tied in a bun, wisps of bangs hiding her forehead.

"Darcy Lewis?" the woman called out, walking briskly over to her.

"Ahhh yes, finally, a fellow sister." She grinned, facing the stranger as she poked her thumb out at herself. "That's me. And will someone PLEASE tell me what's going on?! Oh, and where the nearest pit stop is, because, to be honest, I should've gone wayy back there," she pointed her thumb towards the road behind her to emphasize her point.

"Director Fury would like a word with you. Your car will be taken care of, just follow me, please," the woman said curtly, ignoring Darcy's last comment. "He does?" Darcy asked in surprise. She was Jane's assistant, coffee girl, secretary, and occasionally soft padding for Jane to cry on for those particular days when being apart from one's almost/alien/hot/superhero boyfriend was simply too much for the young physicist. Seriously…what would Fury want with _her_?

The woman in the blue jumpsuit nodded her head towards the helicopter, motioning for Darcy to follow.

"Good luck," Johnny chuckled good-naturedly.

Giving Johnny's twinkling eyes a questioning look of suspicion, Darcy shrugged at the situation, gathered her hastily packed belongings, her Taser, and followed the woman towards the copter across the empty dirt road.

"What happened to New York?" she asked, catching up to the agent. "And how did you find me?" she paused, thinking for a second. "And where's Philly, isn't he Fury's gopher?"

The woman paused, and spun on her heels. Caught off guard, Darcy nearly rammed into her, but the woman steadied her at the last second. Smiling an obviously fake smile, she said, "You've been driving for 10 hours straight. Get some rest."

"Agent Hill?" a young agent called out from inside the copter.

"Yes Andrews?" the woman replied, still looking Darcy.

"We've just got word… we found _him_,"

The look in Agent Hill's eyes went immediately from annoyance to what Darcy could describe as 'morbidly excited.' "That bastard…" she mumbled under her breath, just loud enough that Darcy could hear.

"Will someone please tell me what the _fuck_ is going on?" Darcy cried out, tired and exasperated. Agent Hill simply nodded at the young agent, and gently pushed Darcy into the helicopter.

The walls were grey, the ceiling was grey, heck, even the carpet was grey. Agent Hill had mentioned that this was S.H.I.E.L.D. auxiliary facility, but that was all. Why did Fury want to talk with her? Why was Jane in New York City, when she should have been in Norway? What the hell happened there? And, even more interesting…who was the person that that agent had been talking about that made Agent Hill look like she wanted to murder a fruitcake?

Darcy got the answer to the latter question as she rounded a corner and nearly bumped into someone.

"Aw hell, I am _so_ sorry, I – " her breath caught in her throat. Standing in front of her was a man, the same man she'd seen on Paul's phone. He was taller in person, and had cuts and bruises on almost every part of skin that was showing, and had gashes strewn across his torso. Sweat was glistening on his pale forehead, and his hair that had obviously once been slicked back was now messy and stringy and caked with blood. There was something in his bright green eyes that made her shiver; the reason for which, she couldn't determine at the moment.

It took her a second to realize that she was staring. His amused crack of a smile snapped her out of her momentary reverie, but nothing could help the fact that her cheeks were turning a furious shade of red.

A guard standing behind the man prodded him with his gun, "Move it!" he ordered, with such a hatred that even Darcy cringed. Who was this guy?

The man with the raven hair suddenly stumbled, and the agent behind him roughly pulled him to his feet.

"Not so tough now, are yah?" the guard sneered, his face contorted with an ugly glower.

The dark haired man gritted his teeth, and although his face showed his aggravation and displeasure of the situation, he allowed himself to be lead away, all the time looking at Darcy. She couldn't tell what his look said, but could've sworn that at one point, he looked at her like a lion looks at its prey.

"Miss Lewis?" she heard a man call out her name. Actually, it was more like a demand, how anyone could turn a name into that was… Ah. Turning around, she saw she was face-to-face with Nick Fury, Director of S.H.E.I.L.D. and current holder of the MFBA of the year award.

"Yes?" she asked, looking him straight in his one eye.

"Come with me," he said, turning on his heels, his leather coat swinging out behind him.

"Nah, that's not ominous at all," she muttered, and could almost hear his eyes roll.

So that's where she was. Staring Nick Fury straight in his one good eyeball, in disbelief and infuriation.

"JANE WAS _WHAT_?!" she finally managed to stumble out. It was almost laughable, really. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempt at saving Jane had been their downfall; somehow, Loki, who she now knew was not only the guy who tried to take over the damn planet, but also the guy she _apologized_ to in the hallway – she'd really given her two cents to Fury then – had taken her under his control, and although Loki had been found weak and powerless in the outskirts of the city, both Jane and the Tesseract's locations were yet to be discovered. However, the thought of why SHEILD only sought to protect Jane, and not her, was still lingering in her mind.

And the need to pee was growing all-too familiar. She crossed her legs, silently praying in her head that the intimidating bald guy with a goatee in front of her would stop going on and on and on about 'protocol' and 'press'… She was about to _press_ him in a minute.

Maybe she should make a run for it. No, wait. There were guards at the door, weren't there? Right. Guards with guns that made her Taser look like a 5 year-old's water pistol. She'd seen them when she walked in, all stoics and stiff like they either had an itch they just couldn't reach, or were in a dire need of a buffalo chicken calzone.

Come to think of it, when was the last time she'd eaten? Probably hours ago. Back when she had been a moron to think driving to New York from New Mexico was a good idea. It would have taken her more than a day, and by then, what good would it have done Jane? Still, the effort was commendable. She'd be on Jane's Christmas card list for life. Or at least a decade. Maybe a year? Not that Jane sent out Christmas cards. She really should start; even the esteemed Dr. Donald Blake sent them out, cute ones of the two of them, way back when.

Where even was he nowadays? Darcy imagined his meeting with Thor, and the two of them trying to duke it out for Jane's love. It would be funny, at least for a little while. Thor being all chivalrous and knight-like, Don yelling and threatening him with long words that left Thor dazed. And Jane would be wearing a dress, obviously, and would be all worked up and concerned and be pressing her nails into Darcy's shoulder to which Darcy would fling off and walk over to Don, say "Fuck off, dickface," and Taser him, throw Jane to Thor, then walk out into the sunset with her Taser smoking and Morgan Freeman narrating.

"…Our best bet is that the disappearance of Dr. Foster and the Tesseract are linked," Fury was saying.

Darcy snapped back to attention, head shooting up. Whoops.

"We're making every available effort to retrieve Dr. Foster at present," Director Fury continued. "I don't know if you can tell, but there was just a goddamn war in New York City, some of our finest have been lost, and the press has been hell."

"So?" Darcy argued, "Doesn't Jane mean anything to you guys? To the treaty?"

"I said, 'every available effort,'" the Director repeated, just as a door behind him slid open to reveal Captain America, of all people, in full regalia, Iron Man—Holy…Tony Stark…holding something in his hand that looked like a gyro, still chewing it as he entered…oh God, she could go for a gyro right now—and a shorter man with a fresh lilac button down shirt and tan pants she didn't recognize. With slightly curly brown hair and glasses, he almost resembled her old Chem teacher, causing the corner of her full lips upturn in a smirk. But it was the disheveled figure that walked in after Glasses that really caught her attention.

"Thor!" she burst out, running up to the Asgardian and enveloping him in a fierce hug, "How've you been, you big ol' beefcake?! And how's Meow Meow?" She paused, dropping her arms and frowning. "And where the fuck have you _been_?" She elbowed him, causing him to "ooph" in surprise. "Jane's been worrying her panties off, and trust me, you don't want to be around her when she's pissed _and_ worried!"

"Meow Meow?" Glasses asked.

"He does seem like a cat kinda guy," Tony suggested. "Or isn't that his brother?"

"I must admit that I have surely seen better days, Lady Darcy," Thor grunted slightly.

"Yeah, I saw the footage, but… oh gosh, Jane's been looking all over for you!"

"Yes," he said glumly. "I'm afraid with the Bifrost destroyed, there was no way back."

"Oh. But you're here now, aren't you?"

He nodded, face darkening. There was something Darcy couldn't pin down that spread over his face, an expression that seemed to be a mixture of guilt and something else. Whatever it was, it faded as quickly as it had appeared.

"We're on our way to find her, actually," Captain America interrupted.

Darcy's mouth went dry. "You're…You're… Oh God, I'm gonna cry!"

"Cry?"

She sniffled a bit. "It's just so—I mean—you look just like your bobble-head!"

"My _what_, ma'am?"

Tony froze mid Shwarma-wrapper-in-the-trash launch. "Wait, he's got a bobble-head and I don't?!"

"Your head is big enough as it is," Glasses sighed good-naturedly.

"I can't take it! You're just too perfect!" Darcy wiped her face with the corner of her sweatshirt. "And it's not 'ma'am,' God, I'm not that old, am I?" She paused in mid-thought, turning to the left and looking down soberly. "Tell me, do my boobs look saggy to you?"

"Uh…"

Wow. Who knew the good Captain could blush that red?

Tony let out a thinly veiled choking noise that sounded far too similar to a snicker to her to be ignored behind him.

"Sorry," she said. "Just kidding. I know they're rockin'." She extended a hand. "Darcy Lewis, God-Taserer."

"Captain America," he replied in turn, shaking it. "But my friends call me Steve."

"I bet you tell all the girls that," she said cheekily.

Steve just stared at her. "I tell everyone that."

"Too…perfect," she gasped, fanning herself. "Can't…breathe!"

Director Fury coughed once, _loudly_. Opening up a drawer in his desk that looked far too futuristic for Darcy to assume it came from Ikea, he took out a thick manila file with loose-leaf papers sticking this way and that, and handed it to her. She took it, surprised. "Miss Lewis," he sighed, as though it pained him to say what he was about to say, "Due to your association with Dr. Foster, you are assigned to work with Dr. Banner to track both her and the Tesseract."

Glasses awkwardly stepped forward, offering his hand to Darcy in greeting. "Dr. Foster always spoke highly of you in our brief correspondences. It's an honor to meet the person who found the anomaly in the X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It's led to many discoveries in the astrophysics field, er, so I've read. How did you manage it, by the way? I mean, the electron energy-loss approach to the study of ion excitation is…"

Darcy smiled at his deep brown eyes, took his hand, and firmly shook it. Then she blinked. What? "I-"

Apparently Fury didn't give half a shit about electrons and pumped up ions. "Loki is hiding something and whatever it is, I don't like it. He admits defeat, then claims to know nothing about where the Tesseract went when his Chitauri army was defeated?" He turned to Thor. "As fortune has it, Black Widow is on assignment; however, with you, he might just slip. I want you to go down to the cells to see what you can get from your brother."

Steve's face fell adorably. He probably did everything adorably. Threw his shield, gunned down robbers, broke baddie's necks, kissed babies…"Sir, are you sure that's a good-"

"I can handle him, rest assured," said Thor, jaw set tight. "I'm afraid Loki is beyond reason, but there surely must be a way for me to break through to him. Jane deserves as much. He may be a criminal, but he is my brother, a son of Asgard." He sighed heavily. "I can only hope that he remembers that."

"Bear in mind he nearly caused the next world war!" said Fury, eye nearly popping out of his one good socket. "Your brother almost succeeded in destroying our planet, and would have if it hadn't been for you six. Maybe he should remember THAT."

Thor stood up a little straighter, arm muscles rippling as his hand tightened on Mjolnir's handle. Steve offered him a look of understanding, and placed a hand on his shoulder, suggesting that what Fury said was close to truth. With a curt nod, Thor left the room, the door automatically hissing shut behind him.

Fury sat back down at his desk, rubbing his temple. "Damn aliens and their daytime dramas." He closed his eyes. "Captain, you and Mr. Stark - check in with the agents on ground. See what they found at the scene. And you two," he pointed to Darcy and Glasses, "My office. Get out."

"You know, technically I was never on payroll-"

Darcy never thought Fury could look more purple. "Stark!"

"Well, you heard the man," Tony shrugged, walking towards the exit, "Wants to keep his kids safe from his awful cursing habit." He leaned back in the doorway, "Thanks, Pops!"

"Wait, just wait a second!" Darcy held up her hands at Fury. "How are we even going to track find her? And-and I'm just an intern, I don't do-"

Fury was practically boiling. "Figure. It. Out."

Glasses looked back at Darcy apologetically. She nodded, biting her lip. Then a thought occurred to her. "Does this mean that _I'm_ on payroll?!"

"Hey, you wanna show some respect?" Steve said after the door had hissed shut behind them.

Tony sighed dramatically. "Calm your stripes, Cap. He's obviously hiding something. As in, _Natasha_, on assignment? Hell, it's been less than a day since the party went down. And why would Loki even take Jane, except to maybe piss off our good friend Thor, and more importantly: What the hell happened?"

"You mean you don't know?" Darcy laughed. "Come on. You mean to tell me 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' lost Jane?" She stopped laughing. "Oh God, you're serious."

"They're calling us that now?" Tony cocked an eyebrow. "Never thought that would catch on, kind of liking it now that you bring it up, JARVIS! Make a note of that, send it to Pepper, see if she can run it by the press, officially this time. Boys," he clasped his arms around the two men, as they rounded a corner, "We've officially got ourselves a tagline."

_"Right away, sir,"_ the British AI replied from somewhere in Tony's jacket.

Steve turned to Darcy. "Look, one second Jane was there and we won, and the next-"

"Boom!" Tony interjected, hands flying up in the air, then spreading apart to look mysterious. "She wasn't…"

Glasses looked downcast. "Don't look at me, I can't remember anything."

"Is there any footage from the event?" she asked, "Security cameras still up and running? I mean, there must have been news cameras everywhere. Maybe there's some way to compile it to get a better understanding of what happened."

"Finally, someone with some bright ideas," said Tony. "I'll have Pepper look into it while Cap and I take a look around. The Watson to my Holmes, am I right?"

Steve looked like he wanted to groan but thought better of it. "You're not much of a Sherlock, Stark-"

"Of course not," Tony said, "I'm completely better." He sighed as they approached the door. "Well, Brucie, now there's one more person who speaks our language, _mainly_ yours. Looks like you've got yourself a new pal. Though, not a replacement for me. Still got the option open for you, top ten floors, all R and D. Then again, Stark Tower's gonna need some major modifications, but it's still standing. Hey!" He jumped up suddenly. "Lemme make a call." He produced a small see-through device from his pocket. "That's what you get when you're a billionaire inventor," he said, a smirk growing on his face at Darcy's blatant gawking. He walked down the hall and nodded his head appreciatively at an unamused receptionist. "Yeah, Pepper? Geez woman, don't blow my ear drums…But I _did_ call you, babe!"


End file.
